


Reading Between the Marks

by FaeOfStars



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (I guess that works???), (you get a mark everytime you get a crush on someone or someone gets a crush on you), Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Kind of a Soulmate AU?, M/M, Mark AU, Temporarily Unrequited Love, it will kinda stick to the canon at first then drift from it, its a fun ride of emotions, oh so much hurt, pretty violent, some characters die and some almost die
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-18
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-10-20 16:08:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10666149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaeOfStars/pseuds/FaeOfStars
Summary: Once somebody was old enough to vaguely understand the concept of love, marks would begin appearing under their wrist. The colors of the marks each had a meaning and so did which arm they appeared on. These meanings were taught from a young age. The marks on the left arm represented each and every person that you had a crush on while the marks on the right arm showed the number of people who had a crush on you. Black marks, seemingly the most common, were unrequited crushes. Red marks were requited and came in pairs. If you have a red mark on your left arm, you would also have one on your right. Sometimes, requited crushes would fade away and so would the red marks. Pale pink mark showed those instances. At any time, black marks could become red and red could become pink. The marks never gave any clues about who they were there for, however, so for most, they only kept track of how easily they fell for others or how easily others fell for them. For certain people though, like Lance, the marks were a constant idea in their mind. As someone who was in the middle of space, nothing was more puzzling than when he realized one of his many left black marks had turned red, with a brand new right red mark to match.





	1. Intro

**Author's Note:**

> Hey ny'all! After finishing my last fic, I wanted to write more Klance, but... not that cute. So this is gonna be painful to read. >;3c This first chapter will be really short since it serves more as an introduction/prologue.
> 
> Make sure you read the summary before starting so that you can understand the gist of the AU!

   15. There were 15 marks on his left arm. Most people his age didn't have so many. They usually had around six or seven. But he had more than twice as much. Everyone usually started getting marks around the age of 12. He got his first left mark at 14. Two full years later than most and he still somehow managed to get so many. How did he get 15 over the course of three years? Did he really fall for people that easily?

   Lance looked at his friend next to him. Pidge didn't have any marks on his left arm and he didn't seem to care at all. Sometimes, Lance was jealous of how unaffected Pidge was by the marks. Suddenly, Pidge shifted in his seat and pulled down his sleeve to examine his right arm. He counted the black marks on it and Lance found himself doing the same. There were now six marks when there used to be five. After recounting the marks two times more, Pidge made a disgusted expression and covered them back up. Well, maybe he was a little affected by the right marks.

   "A new mark?" Lance asked in a joking tone. "Ohhh, wonder who it is this time?"

   Pidge gagged. "I knew I sensed somebody staring at me. Disgusting. That poor, poor fool."

   Lance let his sleeves fall, revealing the marks on both of his arms. "At least it's not as bad as these poor fools."

   Pidge laughed, "Yeah, no kidding. I feel even worse for those with the pink marks. You know, the ones you actually dated."

   Lance gasped and held his hands over his heart. "Excuse you? Those three lucky ladies got to have the once in a lifetime experience that is Lance McClain."

   "Thank god it's a once in a lifetime experience. Nobody needs to be subjected to you more than once," Pidge joked.

   "Rude," Lance replied, but Pidge didn't seem to hear him.

   "Honestly, with as many right marks as you have, I would've thought you'd end up with a lot less black marks," Pidge stated and then turned his head away from the table and gestured to the crowd. "In fact, I think he's the only one who has just as many, if not more, right marks as you."

   Lance positioned himself to see who Pidge was talking about. Right away, Lance could recognize him just by his outdated hairstyle. That, and the fact he wasn't wearing the usual Garrison student uniform. He wasn't a student anymore. Lance had no idea what his reason for being there now was.

   "I have no idea who he is, but I've heard that he has 14 right marks. Only one is pink too, the rest are all black. He has almost as many right marks as you do left marks! You have 15 of those, right?" Pidge continued.

   Lance knew he had 15. He obsessively thought about how he had 15, but he counted them anyways. His eyes began to widen as he counted 15, but there was still another black mark to count. He recounted them over and over again, each time getting one more than his usual total. He quickly glanced back to the crowd he was just observing and then back to his left arm. Finally, he whispered, "16."

   "A new mark? Wonder who it is," Pidge mimicked Lance's earlier comment with a smirk on his face. "What color is it?"

   "Black," Lance responded quickly, trying to hide his disappointment.

   He directed his attention back to the crowd, trying to figure out who exactly caused him to gain a new mark. Lance scanned the faces and noticed that there were only men in the crowd. He gulped, realizing what this meant. It's happened before -- twice -- that a left mark appeared because he fell for a boy. He shrugged it off the first time and got a little worried the second time. Now, he was nervous. Once was an incident, twice was a coincidence... three times was a pattern.

   Lance's stomach churned as his eyes locked onto the boy that Pidge had been talking about. The boy's gaze was focused on the ground as a group of Garrison officers escorted him through the cafeteria. He wore a scowl on his face like he always did after arguing and had his arms crossed over his chest. Lance had always admired him. He was one of the best pilots at the Garrison, even though he was a total hothead. Lance always tried to get his attention by claiming him as his rival and competing with him. When Lance had been promoted to fighter pilot due to him dropping out, Lance couldn't stop thinking about him. It was more out of worry for him than getting over losing his rival, but it was a mix of both. It was him, wasn't it? It had to be. Left Mark #16 just had to be Keith Kogane.

   "I'm sorry," Pidge said in reference to the mark's color. "Do you have any idea who it is?"

   Lance shrugged. "I think I know exactly who it is, but it doesn't matter. Wouldn't work out anyways. I know that already. I'll get over it soon enough."

   As Lance finished his sentence, his other friend, Hunk, took a seat across from him at the table, carefully setting his tray of food down. "Hey guys. Did you hear that the dropout broke in again?"

   "Oh yeah," Pidge replied instantly. "I saw the crowd of officers. I couldn't get a good look at the guy, though."

   "He's still trying to demand answers for the Kerberos mission, I guess. I get that the accident totally sucked, but I would've thought he'd be over it by now, you know?" Hunk told them as he scooped some of his food into his mouth.

   Pidge's expression tensed like it always did when the Kerberos mission was brought up. "Uh, yeah..."

   Lance stared at the door that the crowd at just left through, bringing Keith with them. "Do you think that's why he got kicked out?"

   Hunk lowered his spoon and look directly at Lance as he spoke, "Maybe? That doesn't seem like anything too bad, though. Whenever we question an officer, we just get a punishment, usually laps. Man, I hate laps. I bet he attacked an officer or something."

   "Probably. But why does he have so many right marks if he's always getting in trouble? Seriously, all I know about the guy is that he has 14 right marks and he's known so well as the 'dropout' to the point where I'd believe it's actually his name," Pidge asked, returning back to the topic of marks.

   Hunk shrugged and took another bite. "Chicks just dig a bad boy."

   "I don't get it, but I guess I have no room to speak cause I don't have any left marks. Oh, Lance got another one, by the way," Pidge told Hunk, directing the conversion topic towards Lance.

   Hunk eyes practically sparkled at Pidge's words and the excitement could be heard in his voice, "Woah! Another mark? That makes 16, huh? Is it red? Please tell me it's red!"

   "Sorry to disappoint you, bud, but it's black," Lance told his friend.

   "Aww," Hunk whined.

   Pidge, probably not wanting to hear more about marks, even though he was the one to bring the subject up, stood up and grabbed his empty tray. "I think I'll go study. I know our simulation is a month away, but I want to make sure I'm prepared. See you guys later."

   Hunk waved his goodbye to Pidge and continued eating. Meanwhile, Lance rested his chin on his hand, occupied in his thoughts. A 16th mark. He had 16 left marks now, and of course the new one had to be black. It couldn't really be Keith, could it? There was no way. Keith didn't even go to the Garrison anymore. He hadn't gone there for months, although he had broken in a few times. How could he possibly have gotten a crush on Keith?

   Chatter filled the cafeteria and Lance picked up on some of the words. "You won't believe what just happened to me. I just bumped into Dropout!"

   Lance sighed as he heard gasps from the group.  _Dropout_  had a name. And that name was Keith. But that didn't matter to the girls who were so intently listening to their friend's story. Really, it didn't matter to anybody it seemed. Even Hunk referred to Keith as Dropout.

   "When I bumped into him, I fell down and he helped me up. Right before the officers grabbed him and pulled him away, I could see his right marks! There's a new black one! He has 15 now."

   Lance's heart sunk. Keith had a new right mark as black as Lance's new left mark. That couldn't be a coincidence. Yep, Left Mark #16 was definitely Keith.

   "Woah, Lance," Hunk hissed. "Dropout has 15 right marks now. He's neck and neck with your left marks."

   "Yes, Hunk, I heard the rumor. They aren't exactly quiet over there," Lance told him. He really didn't want to talk about Keith, who he was certain was his unrequited crush. He had to get out of the cafeteria. "You know, I'm gonna agree with Pidge for once and say I should probably go study. Feel free to join me later if you want."

   As Lance left the cafeteria and headed for his dorm, he noted one thing: Gossip at the Garrison was going to be hell for him from now on.


	2. Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took four months to finish this chapter! This chapter does align a lot with canon, but there were also some details that I wanted to establish in certain canon scenes. Rereading canon scenes can be boring, so I tried not to draw them out for too long. This will be the only chapter that does this. The beginning of the next chapter will start from canon scenes, but from there on, it will drift from canon and I'll be writing freely. Hopefully you guys can last until then and get to the really good part. I'm pretty excited to see where I can take this AU! :)

   "Lance, can you stop moping around about that girl and focus?"

   Lance tore his attention away from the marks on his arm and turned his head towards Pidge. "I am in distress and you want me to  _focus_?"

   "Well, duh," Pidge replied sharply. "We've failed the simulation too many times already and I'd rather us not be the record setters for the most failures. That girl doesn't matter. Our simulation does."

   "I loved her, Pidge. I'm heartbroken," Lance cried out, rolling so that he now laid on his back instead of his side.

   "Uh, Lance?" Hunk piped in. "Not to be that guy, but you guys only dated for like two weeks."

   Lance threw his arms up in the air. "And those were the best two weeks of my life!"

   "That's what you said about the last girl," Hunk huffed out as he flipped through the pages of his textbook.

   "I almost wish that you figured out who mark 19 was before it paled out. Maybe she wouldn't have been so stuck-up like 20," Pidge stated. "Really Lance, as much as I can't stand you, you definitely deserved better than her."

   "Wow, that's probably the nicest thing you've said about me," Lance said, slowly sitting up.

   He gave his arm another glance, a sense of hatred for the marks fluttering in his chest. It was ridiculous. In the span of six months, he got another four marks. Sure, two of them  _were_  red (they were both pink now), but he never found out who one of those red marks were before it faded to pink and the other was his recent girlfriend, now ex, that he was still struggling to get over. Twenty fucking marks. Nobody he knew even had half as much. Even Hunk, who had the most out of the people he knew other than himself, only had eight left marks. Why did he keep getting them?

   "I can be nice sometimes, believe it or not," Pidge responded. "Anyways, you need to stop thinking about her and start studying. You're part of a team, so you're not just dragging yourself down."

   "I know, I know. I'm studying," Lance assured him and flipped his textbook open to a random page to look productive.

   He was so not in the mood to study, but really, when was he ever? He didn't even know how to study. Everything used to come to him so easily and he never felt the need to study. His family always praised him for being so smart and he was. He was overconfident in his abilities though, and insisted he could just wing everything, therefore never learning how to study. Once he was enrolled at the Garrison, the story changed. The material didn't always stick like it used to because it was so much more complex. With how easily distracted Lance was, studying was a skill he struggled to pick up on.

   He skimmed through the passages in the book, attempting to memorize what information he could. He flipped through some pages, stopping to read anything that seemed relevant to their upcoming simulation. He examined Pidge and Hunk, who were both taking down notes. Lance could see Hunk's page was covered in his hand-drawn diagrams and all kinds of mathematical symbols that he didn't recognize. Pidge's writing was so small that Lance couldn't even figure out what he was jotting down, but it filled multiple sheets of paper. Lance wasn't a note taker, but he could try.

   Lance opened his notebook to an empty page and grabbed the nearest writing utensil, a marker. As he looked at the textbook, his eyes glided over the marks on his left arm, bringing back his thoughts about them. He wrinkled up his nose and removed the cap from the marker, hovering the tip over his skin. He hesitated for a moment before scribbling over the marks as much as he could. Once the black ink covered the area under his wrist, he pulled his sleeve over it and brought his attention back to the textbook. As his eyes darted through the words on the pages, he wrote down any keywords with a short explanation for them, hoping that they were important enough. What even was important enough to remember? For someone who went through the simulation multiple times already, he sure was blanking on what was necessary to know.

   It was evident that Lance didn't know what was important enough to remember, because as he stood at attention the next day, anything and everything he tried to study escaped his mind. As other cadets went through their simulation, leaving the other teams to wait their turn, Lance hoped that they'd run out of time before getting to his team and earn an extra day to prepare.

   Lance was out of luck. As soon as the other team completed their simulation, Iverson eyed Lance directly, causing him to gulp. Nerves began to flood his entire body, knowing what Iverson's decision would be.

   Iverson cleared his throat and announced, "McClain, Garrett, Gunderson, you're up."

   Pidge let out a quiet groan that Iverson couldn't hear and Hunk gripped Lance's arm as the trio walked forwards and entered the simulation machine. As Lance took his seat, he took a deep breath as tried to focus as much as he could. He thought that maybe this would be the time they'd pass, but he didn't know how big of a disaster it would turn out to be.

_Tip 1 of being a great pilot: Be confident, or at least fake it._ He was good at faking confidence, so that was never an issue.

   "Galaxy Garrison flight log 5-11-14. Begin descent to Kerberos for rescue mission."

   It all went downhill from there. Lance knew Hunk had a queasy stomach, but he couldn't help but mess with him a little by purposely throwing the ship slightly off balance. Pidge, at least, tried to stay focused and on task by pointing out the distress beacon. And surprise, surprise, Lance's goofing around with Hunk caused some trouble when Hunk couldn't get around to fixing the hydraulic stabilizer, which made the ship continue to shake and interfere with the sensors, as Pidge told him.

_Tip 2: Be willing to take risks._

   Lance noticed their objective on his own screen and decided that even with the issues, he might be able to pilot them safely to it. It was worth a shot. "Oh, never mind, fellas. Thar she blows. Preparing for approach on visual."

   Pidge wasn't up for taking risks, or at least viewed the situation more logically, and warned him, "I don't that's advisable with our current mechanical and... gastrointestinal issues."

   "Agreed," Hunk immediately replied.

   Lance had insisted that it'd be fine and the ship could handle it, although he started having doubts about it himself. But he didn't see any other option for them in that moment, so he went with it and told Pidge to communicate their arrival.

   After hearing Pidge crash to the floor and screech, he turned his head to see what was happening, panic slowly building up. They couldn't fail again. He couldn't let them.

   "What are you doing? Buckle your belt," Lance instructed, hoping to restore order. "And Hunk, stop that shaking!"

   Hunk attempted to form some kind of response, but all Lance heard from him was the sound of him vomiting. Lance's throat tightened and felt like he needed to do the same.

   "Attention, lunar vessel, this is Galaxy Garrison Rescue Craft One Victor Six Three Tango. Coming in for landing and extraction, against crew recommendations," Pidge spoke into the communication device.

   "No time for your mutinous comments now, Pidge," Lance said with annoyance in his voice, more towards himself than at Pidge. He had to do this right or else they'd fail. It was all up to him now. "They're going under and we're going in."

_Tip 3: Stay calm when things look bleak._

   "Look out for that overhang!" Pidge yelled.

   Stay calm, stay calm.

   "No worries," Lance began to tell his crew to ease them, but also to reassure himself that he could handle this. "My first year in flight school, know what they called me? They called me 'The Tailor' because of how I thread the needle."

   He wasn't lying. He's flown through tight spaces before. So he could do it now. He gripped the stick and began to steer the ship through. The structure was coming in close, too close for comfort.

   "Come around, come around! Come on, come on!" he begged.

   The ship rumbled and he began to lose his control of the direction it flew in. Beeping sounded throughout the cockpit, informing Lance of his mistake. His gut dropped and he really did feel like pulling a Hunk and puking right there. No, no, no. This couldn't happen. Not now. They were getting so close!

   "We lost a wing!" Hunk confirmed his fear.

   "Oh man," Lance huffed.

_Tip 4: Work well with your crew._

   Teamwork wasn't something Lance was particularly good at and it cost them this time just like every other time they had failed. He could easily help others, but work  _with_  them? That was a different story. As the ship approached the ground and crashed roughly, Lance told himself that he should have just listened to Pidge and Hunk. Why did he always have to try to be the hero? The computer displayed the dark screen and echoed the words 'Simulation Failed' throughout Lance's ears.

   "Nice work, Tailor," Pidge said sarcastically and Lance had to admit, it hurt him more than it should have. He knows Pidge meant it out of frustration, but it still cut deep.

   Once they were out and lined up, Iverson asked the observing students to point out their mistakes. Voices called out answers and Iverson agreed with their responses.

   "The pilot crashed!" a familiar voice spoke, a little too eager to point out Lance's mistake.

   Mara, his ex. Of course she had to be the one to tell that. Hadn't she broken Lance's heart enough already? As soon as he heard her voice, his mouth was filled with a bitter taste. He squeezed his fingers into his palms behind his back, trying to keep his attention to them and away from the emotional pain he was feeling. He wanted to pull down his sleeve and scratch her mark away. 20. He hated that number. He thought that the fact the she was number 20 on both of his arms would mean something special, but it hadn't. All it did was make him resent a harmless number.

   "Correct. And worst of all, the whole jump, they were arguing with each other. Hell, if you're going to be this bad individually, you'd better at least be able to work as a team!" Iverson drilled them harshly. "Galaxy Garrison exists to turn young cadets like you into the next generation of elite astroexplorers, but these kinds of mental mistakes are exactly what cost the lives of the men on the Kerberos Mission."

   As soon as those last words left Iverson's mouth, Lance could feel Pidge tense up beside him. The word Kerberos always had that effect on Pidge, but he hadn't expected Pidge to say what he did next, and neither did Iverson.

   "That's not true, sir!"

   Instantly, Iverson's head jerked towards him and he shouted, "What did you say?"

   Lance panicked. Pidge was a brat, but he cared about him. He didn't want him to be booted from the Garrison like his rival was months ago. He clasped his hand over Pidge's mouth and quickly sputtered out an apology, "Sorry, sir. I think he hit his head when he fell out of his chair. But point taken."

   Iverson moved towards Lance, and got in his face as he told him, "I hope I don't need to remind you that the only reason you're here is that the best pilot in your class had a discipline issue and flunked out.  _Don't_ follow in his footsteps."

   Lance's eyebrows lowered and he could feel sweat dripping down his face. He was talking about Keith, he knew he was. He always was comparing him to Keith. Iverson called for the next and final group for the simulation for the day, leaving Lance and his team to stand in embarrassment for their failure. He could hear whispers and giggles from the crowd of other students and he couldn't help but notice that Mara was the one doing most of the whispering.

   "They really couldn't have picked a worse replacement for Dropout, could they?" he picked up from Mara. Others agreed with her.

   "Wasn't he your fifth left mark?" her blonde friend, Julie, asked. "I can't believe you actually dated him!"

   "Ick, I know!" Mara continued as if Lance weren't there to hear what she was saying. "I mean, he's fine until you realize how much of an idiot he is. Worst two weeks of my life!"

   Lance fought with himself, trying not to let his eyes water. He felt someone grab his shoulder and he turned his head towards them.

   "Lance, don't listen to her," Hunk told him. "She doesn't know you like I do. You're one of the smartest and friendliest people I know."

   Soon enough, Pidge was speaking by his side as well, "I told you that you deserved better. What a bitch."

   "Pidge!" Lance yelped.

   "What? It's true," he retorted. "Even I wouldn't say those things about you and you annoy me more than you do anyone else."

   "I hate to say it, but I agree with Pidge," Hunk said.

   "Thanks guys," Lance whispered. As much as he appreciated the support from his friends, all he wanted to do was get out of there. The Garrison was truly hell on Earth.

~☆★☆ ~

   Lance rolled around in his bed, struggling to find any comfort in it. It had been a rough day. Hunk could tell and had tried his best to cheer Lance up. It may have helped a little, but nothing seemed to get rid of his itch to leave the Garrison.

_Leave the Garrison_.

   Lance jolted up, almost hitting his head on the bed frame. He climbed out of his bed and approached Hunk, grabbing tightly onto his shoulders.

   "Hunk, we're going out tonight," Lance told him.

   Hunk's eyes widened and he shook his head, "Oh, no no no. We are  _not_  doing anything to get us in trouble."

   "Come on, Hunk," Lance whined. "I  _need_  to get out of here. Clear my head, you know. Let's go right now!"

   Without Hunk's full consent, Lance dragged him by the arm to their dorm room's door.

   Iverson's voice boomed throughout the halls, alerting cadets to head to their dorms and feeding into Hunk's anxiety. "We shouldn't be doing this."

   "Relax, Hunk. You heard Commander Iverson. We need to bond as a team," Lance told him.

   "Okay. I'm... I'm just... I'm just saying this here, right now, on the record: This is a bad idea," Hunk continued to worry.

   Lance rolled his eyes and began to navigate the halls, avoiding being seen. Although he opposed the idea, Hunk followed closely. They ducked out of view of the windows and hide in objects to avoid crossing the path of the security guards. They drew closer to Pidge's room, but as they did, the door opened and Pidge snuck out.

   "Where is he going?" Lance asked aloud.

   Lance and Hunk went after him, keeping a considerate amount of distance between them so that Pidge wouldn't suspect that he was being followed. Eventually, they were on the rooftop. What in the world would he be doing up here? Lance held out an arm to stop Hunk and observed Pidge carefully as he began to boot up a bunch of electronics. He pulled headphones over his ears and closed his eyes, listening intently to the sounds he was hearing. Was he listening to music?

   Lance approached Pidge slowly after waiting for a few minutes and crouched down to his level. He lifted one side of his headphones so that he could hear as Lance spoke, "You come up here to rock out?"

   Pidge let out a strange noise that seemed to be out of fear and surprise. Once he realized who was up there with him, he let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, Lance, Hunk. No, um, just... looking at the stars."

   "Man, where'd you get this stuff? It doesn't look like Garrison tech," Lance asked, now getting a closer look at the electronics.

   "I built it," Pidge stated simply and proudly.

   "You built all of this?" Hunk repeated with disbelief, beginning to toy with the tech.

   Pidge slapped Hunk's hand away and began to explain, "With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system."

   "That right?" Lance questioned. "All the way to Kerberos?"

   Pidge's shoulders tensed up like they always did and he groaned quietly to himself. Lance had always wonder why he acted that way. He always picked up on it every time somebody said anything about Kerberos. Now was his chance to get answers.

   "You go ballistic every time the instructors - or anyone, really - bring it up. What's your deal?"

   Hunk tilted one of the parts of the equipment, allowing Pidge to conveniently ignore Lance's question as he scolded Hunk.

   "Look, Pidge, if we're going to bond as a team, we can't have any secrets," Lance stated, hoping that would get him to speak up.

   It worked. "Fine, the world as you know it is about to change. The Kerberos Mission wasn't lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake."

   Hunk made another attempt to touch the tech and Pidge stopped in his explanation to yell at him for it. Hunk rolled over and groaned, obviously defeated, and allowed Pidge to continue in his explanation.

   "So, I've been scanning the system and picking up alien radio chatter," he said.

   That got Hunk's attention from the machinery in front of him. "Whoa, what? Aliens?"

   "Okay, so you're insane. Got it," Lance said as he stood up straight.

   "I'm serious," Pidge insisted. "They keep repeating one word: 'Voltron'. And tonight, it's going crazier than I have ever heard it."

   "How crazy?" Lance asked.

   As if answering Lance's question, the school's alarms began to go off.

   "Attention, students. This is not a drill. We are on lockdown. Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: all students are to remain in barracks until further notice."

   "What's going on?" Hunk asked, giving Lance a look that told him that they should've stayed in their room like Hunk wanted. He then pointed at the sky. "Is that a meteor? A very, very big meteor?"

   Pidge pulled a pair of binoculars out of his bag and announced what he saw, "It's a ship!"

   Lance pulled the binoculars to his own eyes to see for himself. "Holy crow! I can't believe what I'm seeing! That's not one of ours."

   He didn't even pay attention to the others' words as he followed the ship with his eyes. It zoomed across the sky and soon crashed.

   "We've got to see that ship!" he heard Pidge say and he had to agree.

   Pidge began to run off towards the ship's crash site, Lance close behind and calling for Hunk to follow.

   The trio found a cliff that they could use to watch from that was near the ship. There was still some distance, but it was much better than the rooftop. Lance stared through the binoculars. The area was heavily secured.

   "Man, we'll never get past all of those guards to get a look," Lance decided.

   "Aw, man. I guess there's nothing to do but head back to the barracks, right?" Hunk pretended to be disappointed.

   "Wait," Pidge interrupted. "They set up a camera in there and I grabbed its feed. Look!"

   Lance stared at the screen with wide eyes. He recognized the man that the Garrison security had strapped down. It couldn't be possible. He was... dead, wasn't he? The whole team was dead. Yet, there was no denying who that was. Lance guessed that he wasn't dead after all, by some miracle.

   He pointed to the screen. "That's Shiro, the pilot of the Kerberos Mission! That guy's my hero!"

   "Guess he's not dead in space, after all," Hunk said what Lance had been thinking.

   "Where's the rest of the crew?" Pidge questioned.

   They listened in to what Shiro was telling the guards. "Look, there's no time. Aliens are coming here for a weapon. They're probably on their way. They'll destroy us. We have to find Voltron."

   Pidge repeated the word and the three continued to pay close attention to the footage. They each focused on different things. Pidge listened carefully to their words, hoping that they'd say something about the rest of the crew. Hunk stared at the prosthetic arm Shiro had once it was mentioned. Lance still couldn't get over the fact that  _Shiro_ , his idol, the person he looked up to the most and aspired to be like, was alive. And once the guards tried to put him under, Lance began to boil with anger. This was Shiro, the Garrison's prodigy pilot! They had to believe him!

   "What are they doing? The guy's a legend, they're not even gonna listen to him?" Lance questioned in disbelief.

   "We have to get him out," Pidge said. Another excellent suggestion that Lance could agree with. Weird, he usually didn't agree with Pidge. What a crazy day this has been.

   "Uh, I hate to be the voice of reason here, always, but weren't we watching on TV because there was no way to get past the guards?" Hunk pointed out.

   "That was before we were properly motivated. We've just got to think," Lance replied. "Could we tunnel in?"

   Lance continued to think as Pidge and Hunk made their suggestions. Pidge was going somewhere with the hazmat suits, but then they'd need to figure out how to get their hands on them. And Hunk... he still wanted to go back to the dorms. Lance couldn't be mad at him because he knew this was far out of Hunk's comfort level, but there was no way Lance would give up on getting to that room now that he knew Shiro was in there.

   "No," Lance said, a light bulb lighting up in his head. "What we need is a distraction."

   The world listened to Lance yet again as an explosion went off, taking the attention of the trio and the guards. Hunk began to panic about the thoughts of aliens arriving, but Pidge found the source of the explosion.

   "No, those explosions were a distraction, for him," Pidge pointed as he explained. "The Garrison's headed toward the blast, and he's sneaking in from the other side."

   Lance lifted the binoculars back to his eyes and looked in the direction where Pidge had pointed. Right away, Lance's stomach dropped and his left arm began to itch. He knew who that was. It's been a while since he's attempted to break into the Garrison for information, but Lance couldn't forget him, not after he left a mark on his arm. He couldn't remember exactly which mark it was, but he knew that it was a black one that he wished would just dissolve away into his skin so he wouldn't ever have to see it again.  _Rival_. That's how he'd treat him. He was just a rival, not a mark. Forget the mark.

   "No way! Oh, he is not going to beat us in there! That guy is always trying to one-up me!" Lance exclaimed, sticking to rival thing, and he took off after him.

   "Who is it?" Hunk called to him.

   "Keith!" The name tasted sour in his mouth. Keith. Keith Kogane. One of his many left marks. Why did it have to be him?

   "Who?"

   "Are you sure?"

   Lance didn't respond to Pidge and instead answered Hunk, "Oh, I'd recognize that mullet anywhere!"

   "Who's Keith?" Pidge asked again.

   "Dropout!" Hunk answered.

   "Dropout?" Pidge repeated. "No surprise there."

   Dropout. That bothered him far more than Keith's name alone. He was more than just a dropout. Why was that the only thing people seemed to remember him by? Lance ignored the thought and kept running towards the room he saw Keith enter. He slowed down as he made his way down the hall into the room and Hunk and Pidge stayed behind, peeking from behind the door.

   "Nope. No, you - no, no, no. No, you don't.  _I'm_  saving Shiro," Lance stuttered as he draped Shiro's prosthetic arm over his shoulder and glared at Keith, who had Shiro's other arm draped over him.

   "Who are you?" Keith asked.

   Lance's throat felt dry after hearing Keith. He... he didn't remember? Anger began to build up in Lance's chest. He gave him a black mark and he couldn't even remember who he was?

   "Who am I? Uh, the name's Lance. We were in the same class at the Garrison," Lance replied with more annoyance in his voice than he had intended to.

   "Really? Are you an engineer?" Keith questioned further.

   "No, I'm a pilot!" Lance exclaimed, feeling insulted that Keith genuinely seemed like he didn't remember Lance. "We were like rivals. You know, Lance and Keith, neck and neck."

   Keith lifted his eyebrows, realization sinking in. "Oh, wait, I remember you. You're a cargo pilot."

   So, he did remember. Took him long enough. "Well, not anymore. I'm fighter class now, thanks to you washing out."

   Lance instantly regretted bringing up the fact that he was the dropout. He always got annoyed by everyone else only viewing him as that, yet he just did it himself. Luckily, Keith seemed unfazed. "Well, congratulations."

   "Uh, I'd hate to interrupt, but shouldn't we be getting out of here? Like now?" Hunk spoke up.

   "I agree with Hunk, let's get out of here," Pidge said.

   "Right!" Lance responded. "Come on, Keith."

   Keith made no hesitation to assist Lance and he seemed just as eager to get Shiro out of there as Lance was. As much as Lance wanted to save Shiro himself, Shiro was extremely heavy, to no surprise. The guy seemed to be made of pure muscle and the prosthetic limb didn't do anything to lessen the weight, only adding to it. It was a struggle to carry him out, but eventually, they brought him outside. However, their work wasn't done yet. They were now exposed to the Garrison's security guards.

   "What now?" Lanced asked. "There's no way we can carry him past all these guards."

   "Luckily for both of us, I've got a way out of here," Keith replied, nudging his head towards a nearby boulder.

   The two continued to lug Shiro in the direction that Keith had gestured to. Lance looked behind him only to see Hunk and Pidge still crouched by the entrance of the room where Shiro was found. Hunk had the binoculars now, peering through them anxiously.

   "Are you two coming along?" Lance called out to them.

   "Yeah!" Pidge returned. "Hunk?"

   "Just a second. I'm trying to see what we're up against here. Oh man," Hunk said. "They’re coming back and they do not look happy. We've got to go."

   As Lance and Keith approached the boulder, now seeing the vehicle parked behind it, Hunk and Pidge ran past them, already climbing onto it.

   "Uh, do you mind if we catch a ride with you?" Hunk asked, although he didn't wait for the answer and he found his spot on it.

   "Is this thing going to be big enough for all of us?" Pidge questioned, noticing already how the weight of too many people was having a toll on it.

   "No," Keith stated flatly, but still started it up as the guards approached.

   There he was, on a contraption clearly intended for only one person, with his best friend, his teammate, his idol, and his unrequited crush. One person unconscious, one steering so carelessly yet keeping everyone out of danger, and three hanging on tightly for their lives with a few screams here and there. It was a strange assortment and an even stranger circumstance. And Lance knew, from that moment, that his life would never be the same after this. What he didn't know, was just how different it would be.


	3. Red

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go! This is the last chapter that goes directly with canon. Also, I included some of my own headcanons here, so... hopefully you don't mind.

   Finding and piloting a robotic lion. Meeting an alien princess. Finding more lions. Fighting against an evil race of aliens and protecting a village of innocents. Forming Voltron. Having a party in the castle because of what they've accomplished. It was so much in short amount of time. It was intense, but more thrilling than anything he had ever done. But this, being on some planet in an unknown galaxy in the universe? It wasn't Earth. It wasn't home. Being a paladin was amazing and allowed Lance to be the hero he's always dreamed of being, but he missed his planet. He missed his family.

   Discussing those thoughts with Coran was one of the last things he remembered. He was enjoying the party along with Hunk and Keith. _Keith_. Man, what were the odds of being stuck with a crush for what Hunk pointed out could be a long time. He didn't know if he loved it or hated it. Probably hated it. But regardless, even with this great company, he couldn't help but feel homesick. Coran understood. After all, Coran lost his entire planet. He lost everything. At least Lance had some hope that he could return to Earth someday. But from the conversation he had, he could trust Coran. He genuinely liked him. It was like having some sort of father figure. More like an uncle, but it was nice.

   So, when he noticed something was off about Rover and it was about to explode, he instinctively lunged after Coran to protect him from the impact of the blast. That was the very last thing he remembered.

   Lance slowly opened his eyes and allowed them to adjust to his surroundings. He managed to sit up even though his entire body was aching terribly and every inch of his exposed skin felt like it was on fire. Everything was blurry, but he couldn't mistake what he saw. A giant, furry, purple creature grasping something that was green and white.  _Pidge_. A Galra had him.

   "My... my bayard," he said hoarsely.

   Shiro, who Lance had just noticed was by him, moved closer to him and nudged his head towards the ground. "It's right there."

   With the little amount of strength he had in him, he managed to grab hold of his bayard and position himself to take aim. Shiro had also adjusted his position to get ready to attack. Lance lifted his bayard, taking careful aim, and fired. After the shot made contact, Shiro charged after the Galra and Lance couldn't hold himself up anymore. He fell backwards and the world around him grew darker.

   All kinds of noises faintly rang through his ears as he tried to come back into focus. It hurt for his eyes to be open, but he needed to make sure his team was safe. As the darkness in his vision faded, he saw red approach him. Once things were less of a blur, he could make out a hand reaching out for him.  _Keith_. Lance grabbed hold of his hand and as he did so, Keith knelt beside him and helped him to sit up.

   His throat was dry and even without speaking, he could tell his voice was weak, but he still had to say something. Anything. "We did it. We are a good team."

   He smiled weakly as he stared at Keith through his hazy eyes. Everything was still mostly a blur, but he could pick out small details on Keith's face. He never noticed just how long his eyelashes were or just how violet his eyes were. He knew Keith had freckles, but he never saw them this close. They were like stars that dusted his skin and Lance could have lost himself in trying to make constellations out of them. As he looked at him more, he realized that the corners of his mouth had lifted upwards. Keith was smiling. He was smiling at him!

   Pain started coming back to him. The singeing of his skin and the throbbing of his head reminded him of where they were. The castle had been under attack. It seemed like the others had the situation under control, but Lance attempted to look around and see if he could spot any more Galra enemies. However, in addition to the blur, his vision grew darker and he began to feel very weak. Even with Keith's support, Lance started to fall forwards.

   "Lance!" he heard Keith's voice shout.

   He winced in slight pain as he felt Keith grab him and prevent him from falling flat on his face. He squinted his eyes and glanced at Keith again. The smile was gone. Only concern appeared on his face now.

   "I'm... I'm fine," Lance tried to assure him.

   Keith furrowed his eyebrows. "Like hell you are."

   Lance's eyes began to shut again, but he tried to keep them open. Now he was looking at the ceiling of the castle. His head had fallen back and he couldn't gain the strength to pick it back up. He heard some grunts from Keith and soon after, the ceiling appeared to be getting closer. Was Keith lifting him?

   "You're... heavier than you look," Keith huffed.

   Yep. Lance was definitely resting in Keith's arms now. And Lance couldn't help but think that if only he had a moment like this with him back at the Garrison... No, that was useless. The mark Keith had given him back then was black. Black was all it ever would be. Keith was just his rival, nothing more. Even so, Lance thought more about the mark and what it meant. How he felt about Keith... did he still feel the same way?

   He could feel movement now. Keith was walking. It was a slow walk, thanks to Lance's added weight, but they were still moving. Couldn't the other paladins help carry him? It was almost like Keith wanted to do this himself. He wouldn't though, would he?

   "Keith..."

   "Not now, Lance," Keith hushed him.

   "But..."

   "Save your energy."

   Lance didn't even know what he was doing. All he knew was that he was weak and everything around him was shutting out. It felt like his last moment, his last chance, to voice his thoughts.

   "I gotta... I gotta tell you... something. Keith... I.."

   The sentence trailed off. He couldn't get himself to say anything else. It took too much out of him.

   "Lance? Lance!" Keith shouted.

   Another voice was shouting now, but Lance was starting to black out and couldn't make out who it was. "Hunk and Coran have returned with the crystal. We need to get Lance to the infirmary now!"

   The next thing he knew, he was wobbling out of one of the cryopods towards the others, who were hunched over in a group, staring at two time keeping devices. Even in his dazed state, Lance realized how strange it all seemed. He recalled Coran mentioning that the cryopods were capable of healing terrible injuries, but Lance was surprised at just how well they healed. He remembers his skin scorching and every muscle in his body throbbing. It was such an intense pain that he was amazed he had managed to regain consciousness even for a short amount of time. But now? All he felt was slight dizziness. There was no burning or aching. His skin didn’t sting on contact. It was almost like the near fatal explosion he had been exposed to never happened.

   As the team lead him to the table and explained the events that occurred while he was out cold, he couldn’t help but to observe his skin. He poked at his own hand a couple times, testing the reaction he would get, but it brought nothing out of the ordinary. He eyed his skin, trying to pick up on any sign of the blast. Nothing. No scars, no bruises, no cuts. Absolutely nothing. It looked exactly like it did when they arrived at the castle. He even checked his left wrist with a bit of hope that maybe the cryopods healed away the marks as well, but they remained printed into his skin. If the others didn’t mention the explosion, he just might have thought the made the whole thing up. He shifted his attention to the conversation around him, attempting to rip his focus off his perfectly healed skin.

   “He’d be Sendak’s prisoner right now, if not for Pidge,” Allura explained, talking about Shiro.

   Pidge shrugged. “Well, you wouldn’t have survived the explosion if Hunk and Coran hadn’t gotten a new crystal.”

   Great, Pidge had to bring up the explosion again while he was trying to not think about it anymore. He glanced around the group, thinking of how to change the topic. His gaze fell on Keith, who had been sitting on the table the entire time, rarely adding anything to the conversation. Lance noticed the dark bags under his eyes and his hair was messier than usual. He made a quick note to himself to ask him about it later, but right now, Keith was the perfect opportunity to switch the subject.

   “Wow, thanks everybody,” he said with whatever smile he could manage before focusing on Keith. “Sounds like the mice did more than you, though.”

   Keith quickly retorted, “I punched Sendak!”

   Did he? Lance couldn’t quite remember. But, the only person that was anywhere near Sendak when he regained consciousness was Pidge so that meant…

   “Yeah, apparently after I emerged from a coma and shot his arm off,” Lance finished his thought aloud.

   Keith’s expression immediately changed. He looked… distressed? He held his hands out in confusion, voice cracking as he spoke, “We had a bonding moment. I cradled you in my arms!”

   Lance’s heart skipped a beat. He remembered that Keith had been carrying him, which he assumed is what he meant by ‘cradling’. But bonding moment? Oh god. Lance couldn’t think of any part of their interaction that could have been considered a bonding moment to him except… No. No! There was no way Lance said anything that could have hinted at his feelings. He was too weak. He had to have been, right? He hated to have to do this to Keith, but the best thing to do was deny anything ever happening. He couldn’t remember it clearly enough to know what Keith meant by a bonding moment. This was his best option.

   “Nope. Don’t remember, didn’t happen,” he denied while shaking his head. He avoided looking at Keith again and quickly thought of another topic to change to. “So, what happened to Sendak?”

   “He’s frozen in a cryopods. We’re keeping him here in the castle,” Allura answered.

   Lance raised an eyebrow. The Galra that tried to take over the castle and almost killed Pidge? Yeah, Lance wasn’t trusting that. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

   “He’s too dangerous to be set free,” she stated simply. “Besides, we might be able to get some information about Zarkon from him.”

   If Allura thought it was the best option, he would have to agree with her. She knew what she was doing. The rest of them were clueless. Better to leave the judgement calls to her. “So, what’s the plan now?”

   Hunk was the one to answer now. “We have to get to the Balmera and save Shay and her people.”

   Shay. That was that one alien that Hunk had been talking about fondly with his adventure to get a new crystal. Lance wasn’t oblivious to how his face lit up when he mentioned her.

   “Wow, you are really hung up on this lady,” Lance stated and tried to peek at Hunk’s left wrist from his seat.

   “No, it's not like that,” Hunk insisted. “Look, guys, when you see how Zarkon has treated these people and destroyed their home... They've been under his thumb for so long, they don't know what it is to be free. It's up to us to set this right. This is what being a paladin of Voltron is all about. It's time to man up.”

   “Then let’s get moving. Time to go defend the universe,” Shiro announced and started walking with the others following closely. All except for Pidge.

   Lance set his eyes on him even before he called out, “wait,” to the others. He could tell something was up. He always noticed when something was up with Pidge, especially whenever someone mentioned the Kerberos mission. But Hunk didn’t mention it, so something else had to be bothering him.

   “I have something to say first. I need to come clean. And I'm afraid this may change the way you all think about me. Just so there are no secrets between us anymore, I can't ‘man up.’ I'm a girl,” Pidge stated and then began rambling.

   Lance froze in place. Pidge was a girl? He couldn’t believe it. His thoughts spilled from his mouth, but it seemed the others weren’t in as much shock as him. They already knew. How?

   Once Pidge relaxed, it was time to launch the castle-ship (What? It’s also a ship?). Lance grabbed Pidge’s shoulder to stop her. He waited until the rest of the group left the room before speaking.

   “Okay, look, I’m really not trying to be rude here, but how are you possibly a girl? Like, I believe you, but something doesn’t add up here,” he told her.

   “Add up?” she questioned.

   “Believe it or not, I’m super observant, Pidge. When I first met you, I thought you looked a little… feminine, but you were assigned to our dorm section, which meant you had to be a boy, right? And because you were a part of my team, I paid attention to you,” Lance explained. “With my observations, I concluded that you were, in fact, a boy. And now you’re saying you’re a girl? It just doesn’t make sense to me.”

   “It doesn’t have to make sense to you, Lance,” Pidge sneered as she stepped away from him. “I’m a girl and that’s all there is to it. What could possibly draw you to that conclusion that I was definitely a boy?”

   “Plenty of things. One, you’ve never made any excuse about your time of the month. I’ve had girlfriends, Pidge, and I know that is a terrible time for them. It’s painful and emotional. You never showed any signs of it,” he explained.

   “Don’t you think that’s a little personal?” Pidge asked. “Besides, I haven’t fully hit puberty yet.”

   “That explains that. But what about the Garrison physical health inspections? I know you’re smart, but there’s no way you bypassed all of them. I heard them call your name and you went up. You’ve definitely had at least one, and they wouldn’t have let you continue to dorm with the boys if you weren’t one,” he continued and as he spoke, Pidge’s posture began to stiffen.

   “I…” Pidge started, but couldn’t think of anything to say. Lance waited for her response, but it never came.

   He hesitated a little before adding, “And I’ve seen you shirtless.”

   “You what!?” Pidge shrieked.

   “I didn’t mean to!” Lance exclaimed. “I left my towel in the showers by accident and when I went to grab it, you were pulling your shirt off to take a shower.”

   “Lance!”

   “Look, I’m sorry, but I swear that it was an accident. I left immediately after grabbing my…” Lance began to apologize but then noticed that there were tears in Pidge’s eyes. “Oh god, I’m sorry! Pidge, please don’t cry! I’ll drop it. I realize that this is super invasive. I’m so sorry.”

   Pidge wiped her eyes. “It’s not your fault… I should’ve told you earlier. I know how observant you can be. I watched you memorize the security guard’s rounds and you said you could tell which guard it was by their footsteps. I should’ve known you’d figure it out.”

   “Figure it out? Now I’m just even more confused,” Lance admitted.

   “Promise you won’t tell anyone?” Pidge asked softly, her voice telling that her eyes threatened to flow again.

   Lance placed his hands gently on her shoulders. “I promise. What is it?”

   “I’m… I’m trans.”

   “Oh... Oh!” Lance exclaimed and dropped his hands down, realization setting in.

   “Please don’t hate me,” Pidge said, barely audible.

   “Pidge, don’t be ridiculous. I could never hate you! Man, I feel so awful for trying to explain how you had to be a boy. You say you’re a girl, then you’re a girl. No question about it,” Lance tried to cheer her up. “One of my cousins is trans too. I didn’t understand it, but he said he was a boy and I believed him, just like I believe you. I don’t know much because he moved to a different state right before I started at the Garrison, but I did learn some stuff from him. I should’ve realized sooner. I’m sorry, Pidge. If it helps, I support you completely.”

   “Thank you, Lance,” she sniffed and wiped her eyes again.

   Lance looked down at his sleeve. He truly did feel terrible for what he just put her through. Maybe it’d only be fair to tell one of his secrets too. One that nobody else knew, not even Hunk. One he hated admitting even to himself. “Hey Pidge, I know you have no interest in the marks, but how would you like to know about one of mine?”

   “Another one of the girls you had a crush on? Yuck,” she laughed, wiping the last of her tears away.

   “I never said this mark had anything to do with a girl,” he told her. This got Pidge’s full attention.

   “Wait a second, what side is this mark on?” Pidge asked.

   “Left,” he smiled.

   Maybe this would help her feel more comfortable with him, but was he ready to do this? Maybe he’d leave out the name. Yeah, she definitely didn’t need to know who it was, just that it was a boy that left the mark on his arm. Yet, he still hadn’t come to terms with the fact that not one, but three boys had put black marks on his left wrist. He liked boys in the same way he liked so many girls? He knew such a thing existed, but he never thought it would apply to him.

   Pidge gasped and her eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

   Lance nodded and began to pull his sleeve down, exposing his twenty marks. As the fabric swept over his skin and revealed the various lines, Lance’s mouth fell open.  _Holy shit_.

   “Lance, are you okay?” Pidge asked.

   He squeezed his eyes shut and quickly opened them again to make sure he wasn’t imagining it. He tilted his arm towards Pidge, who grabbed onto it and pulled it towards her to get a closer look.

   “A red mark?”

   Lance brought his arm back to himself and checked it again. Sure enough, there was a bright red mark greeting him. Not only that, but it wasn’t added to the end of his long list of marks. Nope, there were still twenty. One of his black marks had turned red. He quickly tugged down his other jacket sleeve to examine his right arm. A new red mark had joined the other. Right Mark #21, he noted. He began to count the red mark’s place on his left wrist. 16. He tried racking his brain for a name to go with the number, but couldn’t come up with anything. It seemed like so long ago that he received Left Mark #16. He had no idea who it was. He couldn’t remember.

   “Pidge, do you by chance know how 16 was?” Lance asked hopefully.

   She shook her head. “I have no idea who any of your marks are other than 20, unfortunately.”

   “Oh well,” Lance said. “I was going to tell you about a different mark, but I guess this is way more exciting.”

   “Oh, I already know where you were going with the other one,” Pidge admitted. “So, I guess I get two of your secrets now!”

   Lance groaned. “That’s not fair!”

   “Not my fault,” Pidge giggled. “Wow, I can’t believe that Lance McFlirty, the guy who hits on almost every girl his own age possible, is actually bi.”

   “Don’t say that so loudly! Nobody else knows,” Lance whined.

   “Whoops, sorry,” Pidge apologized. “Sooo… when are the boys going to get the moves laid on them by you?”

   Lance’s face reddened. “Don’t worry about that.”

   He brought his eyes back down to the red mark, letting it completely sink in. They were in space, extremely far away from Earth. They had a universe to protect and there was no way of telling when they’d return home. Would they even return home? The moment of happiness Lance got from the mark had faded. He thought he was finally getting a bone thrown at him, but it’s still being teased. The mark was red, sure, but whoever had the matching red mark was still on Earth. He might never get to see that person again. The mark was useless. It was just as good being black.

   “Hey, are you two coming? We’ve been waiting on you for a couple minutes now. Everything alright?” a voice interrupted.

   Lance let his sleeves drop and turned to face the origin of the voice.

   “Oh, Hunk. Yeah, we’re fine. We’ll be right there. Lance?” Pidge replied.

   Lance nodded and began walking towards Hunk with Pidge close behind. “Mhmm, everything’s great. Let’s get going. We’ve got a universe to save and all.”

   Maybe saving the universe would make it be less cruel to him. That’s what he hoped, at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pidge and Lance being LGBT siblings is my jam. Love their sibling relationship! Now that the red mark has made its appearance, it is time for the suffering to happen. ;3c


End file.
